A brief history of bootleg rock recordings

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Bootleg Content on the Web Goes Mainstream

Since the late 1960s, the technology of music has been geared toward reaching more and more people. Part of the frustration the Beatles felt was that nobody could hear the sounds of the humble quartet over the screams of 50,000 girls. Clearly, their state-of-the-art 100 Watt Vox Amplifiers and ballpark PA systems were outmatched, and they ceased touring after their Candlestick Park performance in San Francisco in 1966.
Soon after, pioneers like Jimi Hendrix and Eric Clapton necessitated the invention of louder amps that could maintain clarity, provided that they were utilized in a setting with decent acoustics. As the music critics at the time proclaimed, "pop rock" was elevated to the status of a sonic art form and not a disposable passing fad, thus more respect was given to the presentation of music.
Fans at the time were also attuned to the new technologies at hand. Uher 2-track recorders were small and portable enough to bring into arenas and fans surreptitiously created field recordings of legendary shows from small town VFW halls to chaotic outdoor festivals. Fearing the loss of record sales by this practice, some rock band managers instructed that bootleggers be found and their tapes destroyed, but some groups like The Grateful Dead embraced the practice as a sign of the fan's dedication, and not merely a capitalist venture.
Two-track field recordings were not the only source of uncontrolled preservation of performance material. European venues seemed to hold a greater appreciation for music, and were technologically more prepared. Soundboard recordings and multi-camera films were leaked without the band's knowledge of their existence.
Led Zeppelin was known as the band most notorious for enforcing control of their own product. Managed by the brutish ex-wrestler Peter Grant, the band was a touring machine, often playing shows over three hours long. Grant and guitarist Jimmy Page vociferously denounced the practice of bootlegging, condemning it as an inferior product compared to their well-polished and artfully packaged albums. While sometimes performed sloppily, perhaps self indulgent in terms of the solo lengths, their unauthorized concert recordings remain in circulation.
Frank Zappa was another 60s-70s performer who as a composer held tightly to the control of his recorded product. Feeling that bootleg recordings in whole form would show his music out of the context he desired, he had his live engineer record all of his live shows, assembling them later for a 12 CD compilation. Apparently he was aware of the significance of the performance ethos of the era in which these shows were created, and he called his live compilation "You Can't Do That On Stage Anymore."

Pirated Digital Material

Over the years, diligent bootleg collectors weeded out multi-generational analog tapes and located high quality digital copies of their favorite shows. Artists like Zeppelin and Zappa furiously tried to keep up by issuing selected official versions of comparable shows, but the digital age continued to run it's course. Now the bootleg aficionado has only to search YouTube to see rare video clips that would have taken them years to collect. Complete audio recordings are available on sites like Concert Vault, where you can listen to a rare show for free with site registration, or download them for $9.99.
Ownership issues of bootleg recordings are still fairly nebulous. They don't belong to the shaggy guy with the fringed jacket and furtive microphone, or the industrious and overworked engineer of the era. The artist has seldom fought for ownership himself. If possession is truly nine-tenths of the law, now it's the guy with the server and cart application who claims ownership. The bootleg marketplace of vintage recordings is small and the attorney fees are too large to pursue every source of supply and demand that the musical completist at home enjoys.
Digital distribution of both legal and bootleg material demands high speed internet so FTP can reach the customer base. Net neutrality has been maintained, since an ISP provider would surely be too great a legal opponent for record label. It is doubtful that a label would choose this battle, judging by the marginal interest in a dated recording that specifically does not violate copyright infringement, even if the material is similar to an officially released recording. But if the record companies seek greater control of audio recordings in the digital marketplace, the legal battle would be directed at the ISP, not the distribution site.
The irony in this scenario would be for the consumer, whose concern for the life of the living breathing world has transmogrified to the world wide web, will likely direct his anger at the record companies, just like back in the 1960s. It's always the bread getting the way of the music. You dig?